We all know parenting comes with substantially less shuteye than you had when you were child-free, but why are we so much more aware of how poor sleep affects our health and safety now? Speaking on a recent episode of the Unii Babies podcast with Dr. Saranya, award-winning sleep coach Sam Sadighi was glad the message is resonating with mums and dad, mainly because it helps you make better choices.

“I think generally we are becoming so much more aware of our health and wellness. So, you know, we now know that, you know, alcohol and cigarettes and caffeine and things like that aren't too good for us. We know that we need to move our body. And slowly, slowly, we're starting to understand that actually what underpins all of that, all those healthy behaviours, is sleep.”

“Because if we're not getting enough sleep, we're going to make poor food choices. We are physically going to find it harder to lose weight for different hormonal reasons, and we're going to crave the wrong types of food. And we're also not going to have the motivation to exercise. Plus, if we exercise when we're tired and we're not sleeping well, then our bodies don't have that time to rest and rejuvenate the way that we would want them to. So they're more likely to be injured, and then, you know, you get injured, you get out of the habit of exercising. And I think slowly, slowly, we're starting to understand that actually sleeplessness isn't a badge of honour.”

Sam is glad that boasting about how little rest you can tolerate is going out of fashion. “Certainly I know when I was growing up, and, you know, you still hear people say, I only need four or five hours. No, you don't, actually. There's more chance of you getting struck by lightning and being killed than having the gene that means that you need less than seven hours of sleep a night. So actually, it's just that we form these coping mechanisms and it's not until you then start to get better sleep, you then realise that, actually, no, I wasn't performing at my best.”

As we always say at Unii, part of being a good parent is having the energy to cope. Children that sleep well regularly give mum and dad more peaceful nights. You can learn about enforcing bedtimes, sleep routines, and instilling good sleep habits early on Sam’s Baby Sleep and Toddler Sleep Journey video courses for unii.com. Catch a new episode of Unii Babies every Friday at unii.com and on all major podcast platforms.

Unii Babies is created and owned by London-based family wellbeing educational platform Unii.com, which offers hundreds of episodes of expert-led video courses and a library of medically reviewed articles devoted to improving both baby and child health and your parenting journey. We can also have your parenting questions expertly answered. Contact us with what you want to know, and you may see one of our experts discuss it on our podcast or Unii.com: Because Family Matters.

This podcast is for reference and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice and should not be relied upon as such. Specific medical advice about your specific circumstances should always be sought separately before taking or deciding not to take any action.

Unii’s Sleep Expert: Surviving on Very Little Sleep Isn’t a Badge of Honour!

Unii’s Sleep Expert: Surviving on Very Little Sleep Isn’t a Badge of Honour!